This cake is ethereal.
During the forty years I’ve been collecting, teaching and writing recipes, I’ve made dozens of lemon cakes. This one has a fun story behind it.
I have a gorgeous painting of lemons in my kitchen. It hangs right next to a window with a lemon tree outside. Recently we purchased a large vase for our front porch. I wanted something to put into it to portray my love of food, so we purchased a fake lemon tree. We usually don’t do fake, but with the heat of the desert it would be impossible to do anything else. When people see it, they always ask if it’s real. Then a few weeks ago I spotted a lemon welcome mat and there it is!
When my favorite son, Kenny, (He’s my only son and a fantastic one. I have 3 daughters and then along came Kenny.) saw a beautiful book called Lemons by Taschen, he knew it was perfect for me. It has more interesting information on lemons than I ever thought imaginable with exciting recipes and photos that are breathtaking.
This lemon cake is one of its recipes. When I read it, I had everything in my kitchen to make it, so on went my apron.
My only challenge to the recipe is it’s written in metrics. I am slowly switching over to grams in my cooking, (wondering why it has taken me so long) but trying to convert a 1 litre loaf tin was challenging. I ended up with 1 litre = 33.84 ounces = 8 x 4 x 2-inch loaf pan = a piece of cake. I have converted the rest of the recipe for you.
The crumb on this cake is one of the best ever. It has a tender bite, but isn’t mushy. It is perfectly balanced between lemony and sweet. The cake even tastes good frozen. Don’t ask me how I know.
On a trip to Rome, Karl and I saw this painting in a store window. The artist painted one the size we needed (6’ x 5’) and it hung in our kitchen in Foster City. Now that we’re moved to Palm Desert, it has an even more important wall, which looks outside to our lemon tree.
I’ve carried my love of lemons to my front porch.
When my son, Kenny, saw this beautiful Lemon book by Taschen, he bought it for me. Here’s the recipe that I adapted from Metric to our American Imperial system. I changed self rising flour to all-purpose flour plus baking powder and salt.
Lemon Double Drizzle Cake
Cake
4 oz. (1 cube, 125grams) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (175 grams) sugar
1 lemon, finely grated and juiced reserved
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoon milk
Lemon Drizzle Syrup
4 to 5 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
Lemon Drizzle Icing
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/4 cups (150 grams) powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 inch baking pan with parchment, allowing 2 ends to hang over the sides for easy removal.
2. To make the cake: Beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, a little at at a time, mixing very well between additions to prevent curdling. On low speed, mix in the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat in the milk to lighten the mixture. Spoon the batter into the pan.
3. To bake: Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
4. While the cake bakes, make the lemon drizzle syrup: In a small saucepan, heat the lemon juice and sugar over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Keep warm.
5. As soon as the cake is out of the oven, prick it all over over with a thin skewer. Spoon the warm lemon syrup evenly over the top of the cake.
6. Cool completely. Using the two parchment handles, remove the cake from the pan. Set the cake on a wire rack placed over a plate or small tray.
7. To make the glaze: Mix the lemon juice and sifted powdered sugar together with a wooden spoon until smooth . The icing should be thick enough to fall off the side of the spoon with a little resistance. If it’s too thick, beat in a little more lemon juice. Hold a large spoon loaded the the icing well above the cake and drizzle liberally from the tip of the spoon, to and fro from side to side over the cake. Repeat until all the icing is used up. Let set until firm.
To make ahead: Cake may be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. It may also be frozen.
Makes 1 cake.
